


A Time For Tea

by ERNest



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Fluff, Friendship/Love, Handholding, Probability Discussions, Tea, can be seen as friendship or slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 09:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12838131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ERNest/pseuds/ERNest
Summary: They both understood that silence could be a form of conversation, and they took comfort in the understanding."Penny for your thoughts, Spock?"





	A Time For Tea

     Crewmembers stepping in for a snack between shifts or a game of wits transformed the rec room into a friendly kaleidoscope of primary colors. Only one man seemed not to notice any of the activity, staring instead at the plume of steam rising from the pot of tea on the table. He looked so perfectly content to continue on like this that hardly anyone would know he was waiting.

     “Heya, Spock,” the captain chirped as he slid into the seat across from him. “Do you mind if I join you?”

     Spock’s lips quirked up into what was almost a smile. “Certainly not, sir,” he answered, already reaching for the second teacup so he could pour for both of them. “Considering _I_ set the time for us to meet, I could not logically object.”

     “Quite right.” They both took the extra time to simply smell the tea before savoring its notes. “I notice, Spock, that this isn’t the usual replicated stuff. It’s richer somehow… fuller.”

     “Yes, I hoped you would enjoy that. The leaves were a courtesy of Helmsman Sulu’s personal collection. He is as much a botanist as he is a swashbuckler.” Spock took another slow sip. “As I’m sure you are aware.”

     “Remind me to offer him my commendations. There’s just something about the real thing that can’t be beat, isn’t there?”

     No answer was given where none was needed. They both understood that silence could be a form of conversation, and they took comfort in the understanding.

     “Penny for your thoughts, Spock?” Kirk said after a while.

     “Sir, I!” Even an untrained ear could catch the Vulcan’s alarm. “I am sure you are aware that metal coinage is a hopelessly outdated mode of currency, so I fail to–”

     “Call me old fashioned.” The warmth in the captain’s expression pulled something similar out from his friend, which only made Kirk smile more. “Please. I’d like to know what’s going on in that brain of yours.”

     “Oh? I was merely contemplating something Doctor McCoy said.”

     “Well if you’re looking for the perfect comeback, I’m afraid the window of opportunity has probably closed on that.”

     “In fact, I agree with him on this point. No need to look so shocked, Captain, it _has_ been known to happen.” Spock topped up both of their cups while he waited for the captain to close his mouth. “He spoke of the probability that any individual could exist, considering the billions of worlds capable of sustaining life in this galaxy alone. And yet there is only one of each of us.”

     The smile Kirk customarily wore at the sound of Spock’s voice grew nostalgic and perhaps a little sad. But then, Spock thought, most nostalgia was for something already gone, or something still there but changed past recognition. He looked on in mild concern, but patience was the support needed here. “Ah, I think I know this song. Bones then told you not to destroy your own life while looking out for everyone else’s.”

     “It didn’t come up. He seemed to be testing out a theory for himself, and wanted someone with infallible critical thinking to temper his own somewhat romanticized view of things.”

     “That someone being you, of course.”

     “Of course.” Spock curled his fingers around his teacup without raising it to his lips, and seemed to look for answers in its depths. “In the past few weeks I have been calculating much lower odds, though in a similar vein. First, the chances that _three_ distinct but specific individuals could exist in the galaxy, or even all the universe, is much more complicated than multiplying by a factor of three.”

     “That is certainly true, Mr. Spock, but it’s still fairly simple mathematics by your standards, isn’t it?”

     “Indeed, because that was only the preliminary groundwork for the problem I really wanted to solve. What do you suppose are the chances that three such men could exist and that we –- that _they_ -– could all find each other at the same time? Out of thousands of lives each could have led, and the billions of people they could have met, how rare and wonderful that those three –- purely hypothetical of course -– should become friends.”

     Spock could have said more and no doubt would have, had Kirk’s hands not joined his on the teacup. “Yes, Spock,” he said fervently, a smile threatening to split his face in two. “Very rare, and _very_ wonderful.” One hand lingered while the other picked up his own teacup. “I guess the odds were just in your favor,” he said cheekily before he took a large gulp.

     Spock looked at the extraordinary man before him, and thought of another extraordinary man in charge of the sick bay, and he couldn’t help it. He smiled and didn’t even try to restrain himself. “They still are.”


End file.
